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Originally Posted by Bill O'Rights
I know that it's a rigorous process for any adoption.
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Actually, it's a very rigorous process to qualify initially, but after that, the initial qualification stands for each subsequent one. It's a lot like a driver's liscense; once you've passed once, you're pretty much good for life if you don't attract too much attention by doing something egregiously wrong.
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I should imagine that it would be even more so, when adopting a "special needs" child.
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Unfortunately, this isn't so. Special needs children make up a huge portion of the pool of children available for adoption, and tend to be the least desirable. There are a thousand couples eager to adopt little blonde-haired blue-eyed six-month old Susie who was given up for adoption, but minority children taken from their usually single mothers, who might have been neglected or abused (note, white kids are taken from parents, often single mothers for the same reasons, but still have a much easer time being placed/adopted than minorities) as a result of neglect, who have emotional or learning problems as a result, face a much more difficult time, so child welfare agencies are eager to find and qualify people
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Who, I want to know, allows any couple to adopt 9 such children?
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Because it is quite difficult to meet the initial standards, there is a shortage of available adoptive/foster parents. When the children's welfare agencies find a family that is qualified and willing, it isn't so much a matter of allowing them to adopt. Often the families that are qualified are pressured to take more than they initially would like to relieve the pressure. A couple who is willing to take nine or eleven children is seen as a blessing, not suspicious.
For some couples, this is their job. They take in the maximum number of children they can, and live off of the subsidies paid by the government. This situation is tolerated by the government because it costs less to pay foster or adoptive parents than it does to run group homes.
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Where were the checks and balances? Why were no "red flags" raised?
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Most likely they played nice to qualify, then brought in the cages as they acquired more and more children. But you're right, this is abysmal oversight. There should be regular home visits for the professional adoptive parents like these, more than the part timers with only two or three kids.
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However...I also feel that whatever so called "system" allowed this to happen needs to be blown apart at the seams.
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The system is in many places badly in need of repair. We don't really know if this was an isolated incident or endemic to this particular agency. Whoever the case worker was for these kids, he or she definitely has some things to answer for.
Gilda